Robert Royer Williamson

February 9, 2013

NEW MIDDLETOWN Robert Royer Williamson, 92, formerly of Greenford, passed away Thursday morning at Masternick Memorial Health Care Center in New Middletown with his family at his bedside.

Robert was born on the family farm on Jan. 14, 1921, in Greenford, Ohio, the son of Alfred Benjamin and Elizabeth Ada (Royer) Williamson.

A 1938 graduate of Greenford High School, Robert retired from the NRM Corporation after more than 30 years of service as an electrical engineer. He also worked behind the scenes as an engineer at WKBN Radio.

Robert was intrigued by all things electronic at an early age, and taught himself the skills necessary to become an electrical engineer. In his later years he would obtain his ham radio license. When he was young he sold his pony for his first trumpet. He became a wonderful trumpet player, sitting first chair in his high school band. He played in several bands over the years, from the Hot Foot Quartet at Idora Park to Doc Pritchard's Band at Firestone Park. The Big Band sound was a favorite, and he enjoyed listening as well as playing it. He was a Boy Scout in his youth, an adult leader in 4-H, and a volunteer firefighter for Green Township.

In his spare time, Robert loved NASCAR, camping, and gardening. He was active in the Ohio Forestry Association, which assisted in maintaining his 40 acre land full of trees into a sustainable, healthy forest.

Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his first wife, the former E. Rebecca Luplow, whom he married Nov. 15, 1942, and died on Aug. 26, 1993; his second wife, Lois Kenreich Elser, whom he married May of 1995 on a Grecian cruise, and died on April 8, 2011; one sister, Margaret Gerlach, who died in 1998; and a son-in-law, David Davis, who passed away Feb. 3, 1996.

Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10, at the Seederly-Mong and Beck in Columbiana with the Rev. Jim Ray officiating.

The family will receive friends from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Seederly-Mong and Beck Funeral Home in Columbiana.

The family suggests that if friends wish, material contributions may be made in Robert's memory to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, Attn: Dept. 4, 322 Eighth Ave., Seventh Floor, New York, N.Y., 10001 or American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 11454, Alexandria, Va. 22312.

The Seederly-Mong and Beck Funeral Home in Columbiana has been entrusted with the arrangements.